Ophthalmology residencies are 3 years in length with 1 year of general medical or general surgery internship before you may begin. The ACGME has asked that all programs offer joint (IM/surgery department-led) or integrated (ophthalmology department-led) programs for their PGY-1s by 2023. This change eliminates the need to move twice for residency and may allow future applicants to avoid the hassle of a separate ERAS application process for a preliminary or transitional year. Instead, you will complete your intern year at the same institution as your ophthalmology training.
More than half of ophthalmology trainees decide to sub‐specialize after residency by means of a fellowship. Fellowships in ophthalmology range in length from 1‐2 years. Options include oculoplastics, retina, cornea and external disease, pediatrics, neuro‐ophthalmology, glaucoma, and ocular pathology.
You can start your application on the SF Match website on July 1, and you may as well start it early as you can save your progress. There are two main portions to the site: your SF Match profile and the Central Application System (CAS) application. The 2020 SF Match Demo Webinar is a great resource to view the steps of filling out the application.
The SF Match profile is the page you initially see upon logging into the site. Among other things, it includes your name, address, USMLE Step 1 score, AOA status, and photo. You can indicate your gender identity. This information is collected for SF Match to assess demographics of applicants and is not shared with programs. Your photo is used as a visual reminder when programs are making their rank lists, but it is not seen until after you have been invited for an interview; many programs require this photo as a supplement before they will review your application. If you are concerned about getting your photo uploaded in time, you can always take your own photo at home. Unlike your CAS application, your profile page may be updated after submission of your application as long as the SF Match hasn't yet distributed your information to programs.
The CAS application is the online equivalent of your CV. Take advantage of different formatting – bold, italics, and underlining to emphasize different aspects of your application. If you prepared a CV, it will now come in handy as you can essentially copy and paste the information into these text fields. The sections of the CAS application are:
The earliest date residency programs can view your application is in early September. There is no advantage to submitting your application before the designated date, as applications will not be released before then. However, some programs have later deadlines – these details can be found on SF Match or the program's website. While working on your application, you should check the "preview" at the end of each section and the "final preview" at the end of your application to see the final PDF version programs will be seeing. You may find that the formatting in the generated PDF looks drastically different from what you entered. You may find bold formatting, extra spaces, or even abrupt truncation of your information if it doesn't fit in the size constraints of the text box. This also applies to what you have copied and pasted from Word, so check carefully!
You will spend many exhausting hours preparing your application, but keep in mind the person reviewing your application will probably be skimming the entire thing in under a minute -- make this person's life easy. It is important to carefully organize your information, include dates, and be concise. Avoid full paragraphs for the majority of your application. You can copy and paste bullets from Microsoft Word, use hyphens as bullets, or utilize a combination of both for multi-leveled lists. The only section that warrants a full paragraph, in our opinion, is the "Career Objectives" section. Current residents are a great fund of knowledge about the general application process and examples of successful CAS applications. Often, they may be willing to share their past application with you as a guide.
In 2021, the AUPO announced that it will replace the traditional personal statement (PS) with a shorter autobiographical statement (500 words) and your choice of two personal short-answer questions (250 words each). The options for short-answer questions include: [4]
The autobiographical statement is similar to the traditional PS, as they both consist of a single page capturing your unique background, describing who you are, your aspirations, and your path to ophthalmology. This statement is an opportunity to grab the attention of the person reading your application, but do not go too far with your creativity. It is often better to not take too many chances as it can cause you to stand out in an unfavorable way. Provide just enough information about interesting events and experiences to pique the reader's interest, but intentionally leave out detail so they are salivating for more. Your goal is to generate a desire in the reader to interview you so they may ask further questions and create easy discussion points during your interview day. Give them examples that demonstrate important qualities of a resident and future ophthalmologist such as intelligence, fine motor skills, attention to detail, self-driven learning, and the ability to communicate with others. Let them connect the dots without explicitly mentioning how these activities relate to the field, then bring everything together in a grand conclusion paragraph. Revise, revise, revise, and ask for opinions from both people familiar with ophthalmology (especially with the admissions process) and people familiar with you. When you think you are done, put your statement down for a week, then revise it again. The PS is a very important piece of your application package, and you want it to leave a lasting impression. CCOM has PS advice and examples at their website. Remember, ERAS will still require a traditional PS, so you are not fully off the hook from preparing this important document.
Sounding unoriginal or overly flowery in your personal/autobiographical statement ("the eye is the window to the soul…") may easily disadvantage your application. If you do have a visual disability or problems with fine stereopsis and depth perception, please discuss this with a trusted ophthalmologist, as this may impact your surgical ability and fit for the field. Be very careful about how you word each sentence and the conclusion to which a critical reader may jump. Those reviewing your statement will be carefully searching for any clue that may give them a reason not to invite you to interview. Finally, and most importantly, do not misspell o‐p‐h‐t‐h‐a‐l‐m‐o‐l‐o‐g‐y!
You can only send three letters to each program but can request as many letters as you wish. You can pick and choose which letters you want sent to specific programs. At least one letter from an ophthalmologist is required. Most choose to send 2 ophthalmology letters and 1 non-ophthalmology letter, while some choose to send 3 ophthalmology letters. You will initiate a letter request through the SF Match website and your letter writers will upload their submissions directly; you will be able to see when these have been uploaded. Make sure to "check" the box waiving your right to view the letter. Remember to thank your letter writers and keep them updated with where you match!
The SF Match requires applicants to obtain and upload official transcripts for all undergraduate, graduate, and medical schools they have attended. If you took any classes at another college, include these as well if they are related to your science or pre‐medical degree. If not, they are not required (for example, there is no need to request a transcript for a SCUBA certification course, even if it was for college credit).
You must also include a copy of all USMLE scores you have received thus far. Upload the free student print‐out, including the score breakdown, that is available by logging in to the USMLE website. This is the same PDF report you checked to discover your score(s) for the first time.
Additionally, USMLE scores are released to the SF Match program electronically when you give them permission on their website. They give you the option of automatically updating your application whenever a new score becomes available, but it is in your best interest to decline. If you do receive your Step 2 score during the application process, you then have the option of releasing it to programs if you scored well, while retaining it if you didn't. However, this calculus may change or not be an option after Step 1 becomes pass-fail.
Finally, upload your AOA induction letter if you have received one.
There are some programs that will ask for supplemental information, such as a CV, short essay indicating interest, and even a recent eye exam with color vision testing. You can list personal ties to a geographic area in this portion, if applicable, however make sure to also include a separate interest in their program, such as a specific mentor or institution-specific opportunity.
Each year a "target date" in late August or early September is provided on a timetable posted on the SF Match website. Programs individually set deadlines, and some are as quite early, so make sure to find the dates for the programs to which you are applying!
The Dean's Letter is a generic summary of your academic achievements and extracurricular involvement. It includes the comments you have received on your evaluation forms during your second and third years as well as your performance in each class as compared to your peers. The letter is compiled and automatically sent to SF Match and ERAS after it is released (late September). Although this letter was previously frequently overlooked, it has become more important as the number of applicants per program has substantially increased over time.
The final component of the online application is a list of all programs to which you would like your application to be submitted. Choosing programs can be tricky and is discussed later in this guide. You are billed for each program you include, and this price rises incrementally as you apply to more programs (Table 1). If you are submitting a well‐pruned list, it is in your best interest to determine your definitive list prior to submitting your application, as later add‐ons come at an inflated price of $35 per program regardless of how many programs were selected in the initial distribution. If you are initially applying to over 40 programs, you will be paying $35 each at that point anyway, so there is no increase in price for later add‐ons.
No. Programs